1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates generally to applications and methods that may be implemented in or using a mobile device to teach, measure and reward motor vehicle drivers to operate their vehicles in a fuel-efficient and safe manner.
2. Background of the Related Art
Mobile devices, such as a smartphone or tablet, have become ubiquitous in today's society. Faster processors, more memory, higher quality gesture-based multi-touch screens, availability of mobile broadband data, and integration of multi-media and GPS chips along with open interface mobile operating systems, have opened the door for creation of a large variety of mobile applications.
With the price of fuel hovering around $4 per gallon in the US, fuel has grown to be one of the largest costs of running a vehicle. Most commercial fleets consider fuel to be over 35% of operating expenses. As fuel prices continue to increase, this challenge becomes even greater. Commercial fleets are most competitive when they are best at overall freight efficiency, which is largely enabled by managing fuel cost.
Alternative vehicle technologies (truck-level features to improve aerodynamics, decrease rolling resistance, C/L NG engines and hybrid/electric drivetrains) are currently offered to fleet owners and managers to help control the fuel costs. These solutions are expensive but somewhat effective in increasing fuel mileage and therefore lowering fuel costs. These capital intensive solutions drive a challenging return on investment (ROI) and an extended payback period to the fleet operator. Furthermore, these solutions are ignoring a potentially simpler opportunity, namely, changing driver behavior to improve fuel mileage, Fleets and OEM's agree on a difference of more than 30% in fuel mileage between a fleet's best and worst driver with respect to MPG. Furthermore, drivers with low MPG's tend to have a higher accident rate.
Additionally, and another challenge, is that the profession of truck driving is rife with high turnover, as many drivers opt to move to a new fleet once a year or more, chasing a better route, better pay, or improved lifestyle.
Of course, the challenge of changing driver behavior to improve efficiency very likely pre-dates the internal combustion engine. Highly-skilled “teamsters” managed draft animals to maximize freight efficiency. Since those days, there have been primarily two tools utilized to improve driver behavior and efficiency, namely, education and incentive programs. For example, many fleets send all drivers to training on a regular basis to improve techniques for efficient driving. Others offer fuel mileage or other bonuses for good behavior and results. Both programs find limited success. Education and training programs are costly and the benefits tend to wane over time, or drivers move on to a different fleet; incentives and bonuses tend to reward the top tier of drivers, and if a driver knows he/she will not receive it, they refuse to try.
Most modern trucks have a fuel mileage gauge in-dash. The most sophisticated of these gauges report instantaneous mpg, average mpg, and trending details in some graphical format. These gauges are somewhat effective in improving a driver's fuel mileage, however, they are by nature hind-ward looking and are generally providing negative feedback. For example, when the driver begins a journey, the fuel economy value is often as “good as it will get” and declines as the driver is faced with externalities beyond his or her control (i.e. traffic jams, rerouting, truck maintenance issues, hills, etc). This is frustrating and discouraging to the driver, and human tendency in these instances is to disregard, turn-off, or look away from the gauge. Furthermore, the industry generally recognizes a 15-20% error in reading the fuel mileage from the Engine Control Unit. Such a significant inaccuracy makes it difficult to know if the driver is doing better or worse than the previous journey, mile, or minute. In-dash and other MPG gauges use ECU calculation of mileage and are therefore neither accurate nor precise.
Since the advent of cellular and mobile technologies, the “telematics” industry has evolved into a mature market with many solutions and key players (Qualcomm, PeopleNet, Telogis, Xata, and others). Their solutions primarily offer truck-specific GPS routing, navigation, compliance with FMCSA and NHTSA legislation (such as Hours of Service, Electronic On-Board Recording, and Compliance, Safety and Accountability (CSA)) and back-office integration with accounting, payroll, and fuel tax reporting. These incumbent technologies are just now beginning to extend their solutions to help “change driver behavior to improve fuel economy”. As of today, their driver behavior solutions are limited to anti-speeding and anti-idling programs, with a monthly driver scorecard. For example, they set targets (no speed violations, X % of time spent idling), measure, and report to the driver their performance on a periodic basis (usually monthly).
There also exists a solution targeting improving driver safety, known as GreenRoad. This is a dash-mounted device that uses an array of accelerometers, a red-yellow-green light and a mobile data connection. When a driver maneuver exceeds a certain threshold as measured by the accelerometers, the light changes, from green to yellow, and then to red, in a progressive fashion. This real-time feedback attempts to limit hard acceleration/deceleration and hard cornering, which have been directly correlated to increased rate of safety incidents. GreenRoad has also recognized that limiting hard acceleration and deceleration events leads to improved fuel mileage. The fleets have access to an online reporting system that can be used by the fleet manager to train drivers.